Grand Place


The Grand Place or Grote Markt is the central square of Brussels, Belgium. It is surrounded by opulent guildhalls and two larger edifices, the city's Town Hall, and the King's House or Breadhouse building containing the Brussels City Museum. The square measures.
The Grand Place is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels. It is also considered as one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.

History

Early history

In the 10th century, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine constructed a fort on Saint-Géry Island, the furthest inland point at which the Senne river was still navigable. This was the seed of what would become Brussels. By the end of the 11th century, an open-air marketplace was set up on a dried-up marsh near the fort that was surrounded by sandbanks. The market was called the Nedermerckt.
The market likely developed around the same time as Brussels' commercial development. A document from 1174 mentions a lower market not far from the port on the Senne river. The market was well situated along the Causeway, an important commercial road which connected the prosperous regions of the Rhineland and the County of Flanders.
At the beginning of the 13th century, three indoor markets were built on the northern edge of the Grand Place; a meat market, a bread market, and a cloth market. These buildings, which belonged to the Duke of Brabant, allowed the wares to be showcased even in bad weather, but also allowed the Dukes to keep track of the storage and sale of goods, in order to collect taxes. Other buildings, made of wood or stone, enclosed the Grand Place.

Rise in importance

Improvements to the Grand Place from the 14th century onwards would mark the rise in importance of local merchants and tradesmen relative to the nobility. As he was short on money, the Duke transferred control of mills and commerce to the local authorities. The city of Brussels ordered the construction of a large indoor cloth market, similar to those of the neighbouring cities of Mechelen and Leuven, to the south of the square. At this point, the Grand Place was still haphazardly laid out, and the buildings along the edges had a motley tangle of gardens and irregular additions. The city :wikt:expropriate|expropriated and demolished a number of buildings that clogged the square, and formally defined its edges.
Brussels' Town Hall was built on the south side of the Grand Place in stages, between 1401 and 1455, and made it the seat of municipal power. Its spire towers high, and is capped by a 4-metre statue of Saint Michael slaying a demon or devil. To counter this symbol of municipal power, from 1504 to 1536, the Duke of Brabant ordered a large building to be constructed across from the Town Hall as a symbol of ducal power. It was erected on the site of the first cloth and bread markets, which were no longer in use, and it became known as the King's House although no king has ever lived there. It is currently known as the Maison du Roi in French, but in Dutch, it continues to be called the Broodhuis, after the market whose place it took. Over time, wealthy merchants and the increasingly powerful Guilds of Brussels built houses around the square.
The Grand Place witnessed many tragic events unfold during its history. In 1523, the first Protestant martyrs Henri Voes and Jean Van Eschen were burned by the Inquisition on the square. Forty years later, the counts of Egmont and Horn, who had spoken out against the policies of King Philip II in the Spanish Netherlands, were beheaded in front of the Breadhouse. This triggered the beginning of the armed revolt against Spanish rule, of which William of Orange took the lead.

Destruction and rebuilding

On 13 August 1695, a 70,000-strong French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, began a bombardment of Brussels in an effort to draw the League of Augsburg's forces away from their siege on French-held Namur in what is now southern Belgium. The French launched a massive bombardment of the mostly defenseless city centre with cannons and mortars, setting it on fire and flattening the majority of the Grand Place and the surrounding city. Only the stone shell of the town hall and a few fragments of other buildings remained standing. That the town hall survived at all is ironic, as it was the principal target of the artillery fire.
The Grand Place was rebuilt in the following four years by the city's guilds. Their efforts were regulated by the city councillors and the Governor of Brussels, who required that their plans be submitted to the authorities for approval. This helped to deliver a remarkably harmonious layout for the rebuilt square, despite the ostensibly clashing combination of Gothic, Baroque and Louis XIV styles.
During the following two centuries, the Grand Place underwent significant damage. In the late 18th century, Brabant Revolutionaries sacked it, destroying statues of nobility and symbols of Christianity. The guildhalls were seized by the state and sold. The buildings were neglected and left in poor condition, with their facades painted, stuccoed and damaged by pollution.
By the late 19th century, a sensitivity arose about the heritage value of the buildings – the turning point was the demolition of L'Étoile guild house in 1852. Under the impulse of then-mayor Charles Buls, Brussels' authorities had the Grand Place returned to its former splendour, with buildings restored or reconstructed. In 1856, a monumental fountain commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reign of King Leopold I was installed in the centre of the square. It was replaced in 1860 by a fountain surmounted by statues of the Counts of Egmont and Horn, which was erected in front of the King's House and later moved to the Small Sablon. Thirty years later, during the Belle Époque, a bandstand was raised in its place. In 1885, the Belgian Labour Party, the first socialist party in Belgium, was founded during a meeting at the Grand Place.

20th and 21st centuries

At the start of World War I, as refugees flooded Brussels, the Grand Place was filled with military and civilian casualties. The Town Hall served as a makeshift hospital. On 20 August 1914, at 2 p.m., the occupying German army arrived at the Grand Place and set up field kitchens. The occupiers hoisted a German flag at the left side of the Town Hall.
The Grand Place continued to serve as a market until 19 November 1959, and it is still called the Grote Markt in Dutch. Neighbouring streets still reflect the area's origins, named after the sellers of butter, cheese, herring, coal, and so on. In 1979, the Grand Place was bombed. In 1990, the square was pedestrianised and it is currently part of a large pedestrian zone in the centre of Brussels.
The Grand Place was named by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1998. The place is now primarily an important tourist attraction. A number of guild houses have been converted into shops, terraced restaurants and brasseries. Notable institutions include Godiva Chocolatier and the Maison Dandoy speculoos confectionery. One of the houses owned by the brewers' guild is home to a brewers' museum.
The Grand Place was voted the most beautiful square in Europe in 2010. A survey by a Dutch website asked its users to rate different squares across Europe. Moscow's Red Square and the Place Stanislas in Nancy, France, took second and third place.

Buildings around the square

Town Hall

The Town Hall is the central edifice on the Grand Place. It was built in several stages between 1402 and 1455 and is also the square's only remaining medieval building. The architect and designer is probably Jean Bornoy with whom Jacob van Thienen collaborated. The young Duke Charles the Bold laid the first stone of the right wing in 1444. The architect of this part of the building is unknown. Historians think that it could be William de Voghel who was the architect of the city of Brussels in 1452, and who was also, at that time, the designer of the Aula Magna of the palace of Philip the Good. The Gothic tower of is the work of the architect Jean van Ruysbroeck. At its summit stands a tall statue of Saint Michael, the patron saint of Brussels, slaying a demon.
The Town Hall is asymmetrical, since the tower is not exactly in the middle of the building and the left part and the right part are not identical. An old legend known to the people of Brussels tells that the architect who designed the building committed suicide by jumping from the top of the belfry after realising his "mistake". In fact, the two parts were not built together.

King's House

As early as the 12th century, the King's House was a wooden building where bread was sold, hence the name it kept in Dutch; Broodhuis. The original building was replaced in the 15th century by a stone building which housed the administrative services of the Duke of Brabant, which is why it was first called the Duke's House, and when the same duke became King of Spain, it was renamed the King's House. In the 16th century, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ordered to rebuild it in a late Gothic style very similar to the contemporary design, although without towers or galleries.
Because of the damage suffered over time, especially during the bombardment of 1695, the city had the King's House rebuilt in 1873 by architect Victor Jamaer in the Gothic Revival style. The current building, whose interior was renovated in 1985, has housed the Brussels City Museum since 1887.

Houses of the Grand Place

The Grand Place is lined on each side with a number of guild houses and a few private houses. In their current form, they are largely the result of the reconstruction after the bombardment of 1695. The strongly structured facades with their rich sculptural decoration including pilasters and balustrades and their lavishly designed gables are based on Italian Baroque with some Flemish influences.
Between Rue de la Tête d'or/Guldenhoofdstraat and Rue au Beurre/Boterstraat :
Between Rue Charles Buls/Karel Bulsstraat and Rue des Chapeliers/Hoedenmakersstraat :
Between Rue des Chapeliers/Hoedenmakersstraat and Rue de la Colline/Bergstraat :
Between Rue de la Colline/Bergstraat and Rue des Harengs/Haringstraat :
Between Rue Chair et Pain/Vlees-en-Broodstraat and Rue au Beurre/Boterstraat :
Festivities and cultural events are frequently organised on the Grand Place, such as light and sound shows during the Christmas period as part of the "Winter Wonders", or concerts in the summer. Among the most important and famous are the Flower Carpet and the Ommegang.

Flower carpet

Every two years in August, an enormous flower carpet is set up in the Grand Place for a few days. A million colourful begonias are set up in patterns, and the display covers a full, for area total of. The first flower carpet was made in 1971, and due to its popularity, the tradition continued, with the flower carpet attracting a large number of tourists.

Ommegang

At the beginning of July, the Ommegang, one of the largest historical re-enactments in Europe, commemorating the Joyous Entry of Emperor Charles V in Brussels in 1549, ends with a large spectacle on the Grand Place.

In popular culture

Filmography